Overheated chemical leads to evacuation in Adrian

Lonnie Huhman Daily Telegram Staff Writer @lenaweehuhman

Wednesday

Apr 11, 2018 at 12:00 PM

ADRIAN — Homes and businesses within a half-mile radius of the Anderson Development Co. in Adrian were evacuated Tuesday due to a hazardous materials situation involving a tanker truck carrying a chemical.

Lenawee County Emergency Management Coordinator Craig Tanis said a tanker truck arrived to the specialty chemical manufacturer plant at Michigan and Gulf streets before noon carrying the chemical butyl methacrylate. Tanis said it arrived in an overheated state, which if it had not been quickly addressed had the potential to explode.

It was quickly addressed, Tanis said, and there were no injuries and the chemical was not released.

Anderson apologized “for any disruption that the incident … has caused the community,” in a statement issued Tuesday evening.

“We thank you for your patience,” the statement said. “We also would like to thank the county hazmat teams, fire departments, police, sheriff, city/road departments, and emergency responders that responded to the incident. With their assistance, the incident was able to be addressed with no injuries or environmental impact.”

Tanis said upon arrival Anderson employees determined the truck was overheated and immediately called the Adrian Fire Department.

“It came in too hot,” Tanis said of the truck, which arrived with a temperature of 150 degrees.

He said the reason behind the truck becoming overheated apparently was a mistake made by the shipping company. He said with certain chemicals one must apply hot steam to the tanker to prevent the chemicals from solidifying. However, he said the chemical in the tanker Tuesday was not that type and did not need to be steamed, but it was and it became too hot.

Tanis said they issued an evacuation order as a precautionary measure for anyone within a half-mile of the facility at 1415 E. Michigan St. shortly before noon as the Adrian Fire Department and the Lenawee County hazmat team responded to the incident. A hazmat team from Jackson County later arrived on the scene to assist.

Anderson also evacuated all non-essential employees, the company’s statement said.

“Throughout the course of the day, Anderson Development Co. employees worked with the community emergency response team and were able to cool the tanker to a safe working temperature,” the company’s statement said. “During the event, air monitoring was conducted around the area and no emissions were detected.”

Both Madison and Adrian schools were affected by the situation, with both schools canceling buses to areas within the evacuation zone. The Gus Harrison Correctional Facility went into lockdown in response to the situation.

Steve Burgess, who lives on Lowe Avenue, was part of the evacuation and said he first knew something was up when he heard sirens. After that, he said, he received an alert on his cellphone from the Lenawee County system, Rave, and left his home.

“The alert messaging system came in handy for me,” said Burgess, who also said police were going through the neighborhoods alerting people.

Personnel arrived quickly on the scene to begin putting water on the tanker in an effort to cool it down, Tanis said, which it did over the course of several hours. Once it was cool enough, he said, hazmat personnel grounded and vented the tanker before putting into it an inhibitor to neutralize the reaction process.

The all-clear was issued by emergency officials at about 5:30 p.m., Anderson’s statement said.

Tanis said, overall, the response to the situation went well.

“Kudos to our first responders and hazmat team, and to the Anderson Development employees for quickly recognizing the situation as well as Jackson hazmat for giving support,” Tanis said. “They all worked together to prevent what could have been a catastrophic situation.”

Butyl methacrylate is part of a class of chemicals known as acrylates, which are used in making solid surface counter tops, paint and coatings, dental restorations, and adhesives, Anderson’s statement said.

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